


A crack in the sidewalk

by rufferto



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Drama, Dubious Consent, F/M, Flashbacks, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-02 21:44:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11518098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rufferto/pseuds/rufferto
Summary: Day Seven July 15th: Secondary Theme: Free for AllFor Chris Argent Week--As Peter Fights for his life, Chris has flashbacks.*There is a small moment of dubious consent.





	A crack in the sidewalk

**Author's Note:**

> Anything in Italics is a flashback.

Peter was alive when Chris pulled him from the fire, that's all the hunter knew.  His mind kept wandering while he waited for news. He was desperate and unable to get any cooperation from the hospital staff. He wasn't family.

_Peter lay in The Argent’s bed. It was five thirty in the morning and he could hear Victoria feeding Allison downstairs in the small house. Chris Argent stirred next to him and rolled over on his side. “Good morning.”_

_“Technically the sun hasn’t come up yet,” Peter noted with a snide smirk as if Chris hadn’t just fucked him senseless the night before and he was completely in control of their situation._

_“You didn’t leave.” Chris reached over to curl his fingers in Peter’s hair and let the silky strands slide through the cracks. “Does this mean you’ve accepted our proposal?”_

_“Well it means I didn’t feel like going back home.” Peter laughed softly. “My sister will never allow it.” He sighs. “It’s futile, you know it is, and dangerous for Allison.”_

_“You let us worry about Allison.” Chris said with a click of his tongue._

_“I’ll think about it.” Peter promised at the look in Chris’ eyes._

_Chris smiled._

Chris Argent did not consider himself a good man. He was in a spectrum of good that could be misinterpreted. He knew how to torture someone. For that reason alone he knew he couldn’t truly be good. His wife had accepted him the way he was but she had also been groomed from childhood to understand and handle the supernatural world around them. The code had kept them on a path that set them apart from other hunters. Someone in his world had just blown that righteous path to smithereens. He stared at his soot covered arms, still caked with blood that was not his own and tried to process.

His usual coping mechanisms were shot to hell. It had been a terrible night. Eleven people murdered, children too. People who hadn’t deserved it, people who had tried to keep the peace in the area. People who had protected Beacon Hills for longer than he could remember and someone had just eviscerated them from existence.

Victoria looked carefully at her husband. “Chris, the Sheriff has been asking questions. He wants to know when you’ll be able to talk.” She’d brought him some coffee.

Chris was still waiting to hear if Peter would survive. They had him in ICU and no one could talk to him, certainly not a man who was not his relative. Chris was unable to process what he’d seen. Unable to imagine a life without Peter Hale in it.

“He’ll live, Chris. He’s a survivor.” Victoria put her hand on Chris’ shoulder and practically forced him to drink.

Laura Hale and her brother Derek were at the police station, the only survivors because they had been at school.

Chris shuddered as he remembered pulling Peter from the fire, the wolf’s frantic insistence that he could not leave them behind. He’d had to scuff the ring of mountain ash to break the barrier. He saw the hatred in Peter’s eyes and it nearly destroyed him. “If he does, how can we protect him? He’ll have a long recovery. Tori, I don’t know what to do.”

Victoria sighed and looked away. Chris’ relationship with Peter Hale had never been easy but she had accepted it. “We’ll set something up,” she promised. “Peter’s our responsibility.” She drew her fingers through Chris’ hair. “I’ll take care of it, I promise.” She knew her husband was in no state to think. They had been waiting for hours to hear about Peter’s condition. The worst had happened, someone had found out about the Hales and enacted a twisted revenge upon them. It made no sense, it was insane. Most hunters went by the code. This was something that turned her stomach and she was a strong woman. There was something she wouldn’t tell Chris, however, not yet. He had too much to deal with right now. It would just hurt him more.  So she kept the press and the cops away from him and made sure he had food and drink.

Chris spent the next few hours waiting on the edge of his seat, heart in his throat. When he heard the terrible news he broke down. It was too much, he sobbed in Victoria’s arms.

Coma.

And he wasn’t even allowed to see him.

But only on the first night. Victoria saw to it that the hospital relaxed their policy. She was very persuasive when she wanted to be. Chris was finally allowed into Peter’s ICU room in the morning after. It was cold and the only sound he could hear was the beeping of his heart monitor. Peter’s eyes were closed and he was hooked up to so many things that Chris could only swallow. “Why aren’t you healing?” Chris asked him plaintively.

Peter’s face was burned almost unrecognizable on one side.

Chris wasn’t sure he should touch him at all but he couldn’t bring himself not to. His eyes were red and sore from tears. His heart ached and his whole body felt sluggish and unnatural. He’d heard from Victoria that Derek and Laura fled. Peter was left alone.  She had made arrangements. Peter would have the best care available and be protected.

“Peter?” Chris swallowed.

The hospital had induced him into a coma to save his pain, little did they know what they had done. They couldn’t have known he was a werewolf. They couldn’t have known how much he needed that pain for his healing to kick in.

Peter lay there. Dead to everything and everyone he’d ever loved.

Gone.

He’d come back one day, Chris was sure of it. He was a fighter, a survivor. He’d claw his way out of this eventually.

_“You’re crazy, Christopher.” Peter had scoffed at him. “One, you’re married. Two, you’re an Argent. Sure, I’ve enjoyed our time together. But that’s all it is, a dalliance. Go back to sleep.”_

_“You can’t deny it, I know you feel it too.”_

_“Christopher, we’ve had this conversation many times. We can’t ever be together, even with Victoria’s plan. Please just drop it. You’re going to get someone hurt.” The look in Peter’s eyes was that of a resigned man. He’d already made his decision._

_“It’s more than a dalliance, Peter.”_

_“Even so, I knew when we started. You don’t have to take me with you, Christopher.” Peter laughed softly. “I love you for wanting to.”_

_“I can’t leave you with her.” Chris sighed as he brushed at Peter’s hair._

_“You don’t have a choice.” Peter had insisted. “If I run away with you and Victoria I’ll become an Omega. I might hurt Allison one day”_

Chris had ended up staying longer than necessary. It had resulted in Gerard coming to visit to find out why he wasn’t moving on from Beacon Hills to the next problem. Gerard had brought Kate with him. Chris stared at Peter’s face. His beautiful, scarred face. He’d heal. He’d come back. How long would it take? Weeks, months, years? Was he awake inside? Did Gerard somehow find out?

When they were there, he’d had to put a hold on his relationship with Peter. They could never find out. Unfortunately, Allison was old enough to know when someone was missing.

_“Where’s Peter?” Allison had piped up one day. “He’s usually here on my birthday. He gives me the best presents!”_

_“Who’s Peter?” Kate had asked her. Gerard had turned to look at Chris who opened his mouth to reply but Victoria interrupted them._

_“Peter’s gone back to the City, Allison. There’s a good girl, finish your cereal. He’ll be gone for some time.” Victoria had answered for Chris. “Peter’s a co-worker at the Boutique. We’ve been working on designs together. Allison has a soft spot for him.”_

_And nothing more was said._

_They stayed an uncomfortably long time._

_And Chris was driven crazy by it. He missed Peter and couldn’t handle it anymore. He’d gone to the preserve one day against his better judgment. Instead of seeing Peter, he’d noticed his sister had followed him._

_“Who’s Peter really, Chris?” She asked him with mock innocence. She’d gotten a job as a substitute teacher at the school. “You look anxious. Who did you come here to meet?”_

_“Just going for a walk, Kate.” Chris had said in clipped tones._

_“Walk with me then.” Kate linked her arm with Chris and chatted amiably. As though she was perfectly unaware they were being watched._

“She couldn’t have known.” Chris wracked his brains as he gazed in frustration at his comatose lover. “It couldn’t have been her.” The more he wished it wasn’t so, the more he suspected it was. His mind wandered, remembering the last day with Peter.

_“Keep your sister away from my nephew, Christopher.” Peter had only come to warn him. He was ridged with barely controlled anger._

_“She wouldn’t,” Chris shook his head. “I think your imagining things.”_

_“Pretty and Blonde.” Peter snarled. “That’s what Derek said. He wanted to borrow the car to impress his new girlfriend.” The wolf had advanced upon Chris and pinned him up against his truck. “You and Victoria? I trust. But I will kill any other Argent who gets near my family. I promise you that.” His fingers had gripped on Chris’ shirt and the wolf shuddered._

_Then suddenly he was kissing Chris. He was stabbing his tongue into Chris’ mouth and urgently unbuckling his belt. It had been too long, the bond between them was frayed and he was desperate. Chris found himself turned around and bent over and he didn’t struggle. He wanted it more than Peter did. His shirt was torn, and he felt Peter’s fingers inside him.  It was quick and merciless, he knew the wolf wanted to hurt him. There was more kissing, more urgency, Peter’s anger went from fury to desire as he pressed himself into Chris and fucked him hard. It wasn’t romantic in the slightest but Chris reveled in it. He loved being filled by Peter. In a fit of pique, Peter had scarred his shoulder with his claws, marking him. “Never forget it, Christopher Argent. No matter who you are married to. Victoria knows it to be true. You are and always will be, MINE.”_

_It was childish rage, Chris knew. Peter was hurting. Peter missed them. The bond made that perfectly obvious._

There was nothing he could have done differently. He’d tried. Chris had tried to take Peter away. The fire had destroyed everything and burned away their future. When Peter woke up again, what would he be like? Would he forgive and forget or come after them in raging fury? Did he know who was responsible? Did he think it was Chris and Victoria? They could never. They would never. They lived by the code. The only time they had ever bent that code was _for_ Peter. For the bond established when the two of them were very young. For love, not hate.

Some years later, he and his family were at a park. The sun was high in the sky and it was a beautiful day yet he could not bring himself to smile.

“Why is daddy sad today?” Allison asked Victoria.

“His soul hurts, my darling.” Victoria kissed her daughter's cheek.

“Why, Mom?” Allison stepped on a crack in the sidewalk.  She was fourteen.

Chris glanced down at the crack and shivered as though someone had walked over his grave. A crack in time that could have been prevented. If he had just listened more. If he had just paid more attention. If he hadn't turned a blind eye. If they had left sooner.

“He lost someone on this day a few years ago.” Victoria nodded. “But he has us, dear. Let’s go cheer him up, okay?”

Peter was still in the coma, years later. Still gone.

Allison shared her ice cream cone with Chris. “Here Daddy. Ice cream always makes ME happy. You can have mine.” She beamed at him, his ray of sunshine in the awful world he had grown up into.

His heart would never be the same but Allison’s smile would always make the pain ease. He took the cone and had a bite.

_Peter liked Ice Cream._

**FIN**


End file.
